Death Rode the Rails: American Railroad Accidents and Safety, 1828-1965

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Mark Aldrich, Death rode the Rails: American Railroad Accidents and Safety, 1828-1965, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD (2006), 446 pp., US$59.95.

Given current concern about transport safety, it is perhaps surprising that the subject has received relatively little historical study. Indeed, Aldrich's monograph is the first comprehensive treatment devoted to the history of American railway safety. It is therefore a welcome start in bridging the significant gap in transport historiography, especially given its admirable level of research and analysis.

Aldrich is an economic historian, but to define Death rode the Rails simply as economic history would be …